RMS gave a talk to the Beijing GNU/Linux User Group last night. The picture on the right is him in his “preaching” costume. Remember, when you’re talking with him, you have to speak logically and intelligently. This is one example. Ask him “Do you only use Free software?”, he will 100% answer “yes”, and then you can follow up with “Is your BIOS Free?” *grin*

I was having a strange feeling that I was suddenly swapped out from China to an English-speaking world. I seldom have this kind of feeling before since I’ve been living in Beijing for 2.5 years.

Tonight I represented my company, Sun Wah Linux, to talk about Linux in China in Beijing GNU/Linux User Group (BLUG) meeting. Frankly I was having a hard time feeding myself with how Linux is doing in China because my work does not focus on Linux specifically. Anyway, I tried my best to learn about the trends and issues as much as I could before I attended the meeting. Since I went to the meeting place (a restaurant called Steak and Eggs) from China World Hotel after the first day of JavaChina Conference and the two places are very close to each other, I arrived there at 6:30pm while the meeting was scheduled to start at 7pm. The meeting did not start at 7pm exactly because basically we all wanted to fill our stomach first The president of BLUG, Mike, who is a foreigner, so are most of the other members/attendants, they all came from different parts of the world. The moment we ate at Steak and Eggs reminded me of the moments when I was staying in hostels with foreigners as a backpacker in Europe. This kind of sudden cultural change is mind-boggling. I’ve met a lot of cool guys in this meeting. I have not imagined that there are so many Linux guru expats who are living and working in Beijing. It’s really a very good experience.

Thanks Mike for the BLUG T-shirt, it’s nice and I will wear it tomorrow during the 2nd day of JavaChina conference.